Keith Ellison melts down when pressed about hypocrisy in calling Trump a 'bigot

Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) was highly offended by questioning from Jake Tapper on CNN over his past relationship with bigoted Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan in light of his accusations against President Donald Trump.

Here's what happened

Tapper first asked Ellison to comment on the Supreme Court ruling Tuesday that the travel ban on some majority-Muslim nations was constitutional. Ellison called the ruling "bigoted" and said it would not stand the test of time.

Tapper countered that two countries of the ban were not Muslim majority nations, and Ellison offered that North Korea was a "red herring," but that the ban was mainly driven by the president's bigotry.

"He said he wanted a complete and total shutdown of Muslim entry into the country," Ellison said. "He didn't get the complete and total shutdown but he got something and he's celebrating that fact right now."

"Sexist, anti-LGBTA and anti-Semitic bigotry"

Tapper then asked Ellison to comment on his associations with Farrakhan in light of his criticisms against Trump, especially the charge that the president was a "bigot."

"You've been decrying President Trump's bigotry, obviously you used to follow somebody who continually expressed sexist, anti-LGBTQ and anti-Semitic bigotry, Louis Farrakhan. You've condemned Farrakhan's bigotry...

"I would disagree with that," Ellison interrupted. "I would disagree with that, sir, sorry."

"What are you, what are you disagreeing with?" asked Tapper.

"That comes up in this context..." Ellison responded.

"False equivalency"

"Well you're decrying bigotry and Louis Farrakhan is a pretty clear bigot," countered Tapper.

"Right, and I agree that that's true," Ellison said, "and I think that I've made myself very clear, but that's just going back to the false equivalency. Look, I don't have any support for the individual you just mentioned stands for, nor do I agree with Trump's bigotry either."

"But that, again," he added, "you know anytime somebody tries to say that something is unfair and bigoted if you're gonna say well one time you sort of said something or somebody said you said something and then so nobody can complain about bigotry..."

"Oh well you were a follower of Farrakhan," Tapper interrupted, "you were a follower of Farrakhan, sir."

"No I wasn't, Jake, that's not true," Ellison objected, and accused Tapper of trying to excuse Trump's bigotry through attacks on Ellison's past associations with bigoted individuals.

"I'm disappointed that that's why you called me on your show today," added Ellison.

Watch the contentious exchange below:

Tapper pressed Ellison on a statement from Farrakhan stating that he had been in a meeting with him at his hotel suite, and the congressman denied it profusely, but would not say whether Farrakhan was lying or not, while refusing to even utter the bigoted leader's name.